India is said to be re-thinking a decision made two years ago to raise a mountain strike corps to guard the hilly northern borders with China. Sources said the government is now weighing whether it will make more sense to invest in better technology rather than raise an 80,000 strong force at considerable expense.

The Manmohan Singh government of the Congress had hastily cleared the raising of the corp after repeated transgression by Chinese troops in Ladakh in 2013, one of which lasted for over a month. The Mountain Strike Corps, or the Panagarh based 17 Corps, would add on about 80,000 men at a cost of Rs. 64000 crore to be spent over eight years.

The corps headquarters have come up at Panagarh in West Bengal; a few battalions have come up as well.For the last two years, no separate funds have been allocated to the Indian Army to raise the corps and neither has border infrastructure been built to house troops. The Indian Army has been forced use war reserves to raise and equip the corps.

Sources told NDTV that plans to reposition troops in the northern command were put on hold temporarily because the existing infrastructure was found to be â€œincapable of absorbing more troops.â€

â€œAre we preparing for wars of the past or wars of future? Wars of the future will depend on disruptive technologies. The emphasis should be modern means of combat and not bayonet to bayonet or muzzle to muzzle war,â€ Major General (retd) B K Sharma, who heads Centre for Strategic Studies at the United Services Institute told NDTV.

The Chief of Integrated Defence Staff and the National Security Council Secretariat have asked the government whether it wants a huge army or then a small but smart army with a focus on technology and non-contact fighting capabilities.

Besides, questions have also been raised about the huge cost by way of salaries and pensions, for the Indian Army. Already, manpower accounts for nearly 90 per cent of the Armyâ€™s budget.

â€œGoing by the average budget allocations, there may come a time when the Army finds itself unable to set aside money for capital expenditure, therefore, force accretion should be thought through,â€ a top Defence Ministry official told NDTV.

In my opinion we should stop following NDTV on strategic issues, it is getting difficult now a days to find out which lobby they are working for.

I think we should go for manpower, technology will come with them anyways. China will not be deterred by drones, only by seeing boots on the ground. Especially since chinese have followed the approach of encroaching inch by inch not a Big Bang encroachment.

Yeah, the mix of technology and number of troops are essential for tackling the dragon........

We are already making technological advancements, all we have to do now is to develop a formidable pack of ARMY on the ground. As we have adversaries on both sides we have to have separate ARMY to tackle the ground situation. Technology alone cannot fulfill the tactical and surgical needs on the ground........

Terrain which will come under the area of operation of this corps is very rough. And if Kargil is any example, tech can only do so much. At the end of the day it will be boots on the ground that will matter.

There is no need to increase army manpower. Large standing army in peacetime is foolishness. The need is to increase the size and quality of reserves. Too little attention is paid to reserves in India.

Military MUST NOT become large unwieldy bureaucracy like other arms of the government.

Terrain which will come under the area of operation of this corps is very rough. And if Kargil is any example, tech can only do so much. At the end of the day it will be boots on the ground that will matter.

Then there's the question of world famous Indian defence acquisition.

Click to expand...

but bro more men without tech did nothing good to us in kargil war
i think any number of men with equal amount of tech is always better

but bro more men without tech did nothing good to us in kargil war
i think any number of men with equal amount of tech is always better

Click to expand...

True, but for all the artillery pounding you need men who can climb 5000 m tall mountains in atleast battalion sized units. Also, the disproportionate amount of guns used by both sides made clear that you cannot play this thing at a wider scale.

"More Technology" DEFINITELY! we already have the numbers, India has one of the largest standing armies in the world! (third largest the last I remember). The Mountain corps need to be equipped with the best sniper rifles, bullet proof vests, camouflage combat gear, bazookas, stingers, night vision goggles, tactics, radars, etc. so that they can pin down the Chinese advances, if ever there is an incursion there. The regular soldiers can join them in the fight ASAP then. India has a disadvantage against China in terms of infrastructure in the mountainous region. China can move its forces faster to the Indian border then we can.

The SOLE PURPOSE of the mountain corps should be, to PIN down the enemies advances, till regular units can relieve them. If Russian snipers hadn't pinned down the Germans during the battle of Stalingrad, Russia wouldn't have been able to gather, regroup and gather momentum to set the invasion in reverse, unless this hadn't happened.

In fact I personally think that the Apache gunships should also be handed to the Army air wing, so that air support is available to the mountain corps ASAP, without the delays caused in inter services decision making . We have to make it a learning experience, whats the point in inducting large numbers in anycase as we already have a large army, besides the point that in Mountainous terrains large armies cant move or be supported. Its the 300 movie logic, in hilly regions it comes down to one on one conflict. It should be a learning experience rather then doing the same thing over and over, and repeat the mistakes of 1962.

Q. You have said the UPA regime cleared the mountain strike corps project in the eastern sector without factoring in availability of funds? What outlay are you planning to set aside for it?

A. The previous government had estimated it will cost Rs 88,000 crore and will have 70,000 soldiers. I have frozen the cost at Rs 38,000 crore over next eight years. It will consist of 35,000 men. The CCS had cleared the original proposal, but where is the money? Rs 88,000 crore is the army's revenue budget. The CCS kept clearing projects worth Rs 50,000 crore to Rs 1,00,000 crore but where is the actual money? So you have to be selective. I have cleared a Rs 48,000-crore project for seven stealth frigates (P-17A), but I have factored in when the money will be required and at what stage.